Nigel, the Main Coon Cat

For the last three days Nigel the 14 pound Main Coon Cat has been not acting right.
He sat in one position for at least 12 hours. This is very spooky for  a cat that is pretty active.
He came to use via Sean and Linzi.  They picked him up for the downtown Cold Stone ice cream spot.  A car drove and and a small child got out of the car and literally tossed this poor bewildered kitten at the threshold of Cold Stone creamery.  The kids scooped him up and took him to Sacramento  He is a lovely black long haired animal with a super fluffy tail and little tuffs between his feet.  He has the sweetest personality. He is always from our perspective a non violent soul.  Even today with the little neighborhood cats all around, he is respectful and tries really had to get along.


He did have an issue with the timy old lady cat the Sean and Heather had in Sacramento.  She is 15 years old and really set in her ways. Sean had completed the people personalization of this animal and he is tops in our book,  He did have an issue with getting him to the vet.  He put on such a fuss that the cat vet in Sacramento had to use gloves to protect the workers handling him. 

In recent months he has met with a scrape along the side of his head from the cat wars that has required some animal vet work.  The noticed he had some issues with some loose teeth and they were taken care of two.  It was with a little bit of trepidation that I came to the realization that he needed more vet work yesterday.  An in and out cat that does want in or out but is comfortable just staying in one place is not a good sign.  I loaded him up.. not a problem in the cat carrier and took him off to the vet.  At the vet he easily got out of the carrier to get weighed.  As we waited for the vet, he moved himself back into the carrier.  When the vet arrived.  She asked about him.  I  provided her with the run down and my suspensions.  I was afraid that he was having urinary issues as many male cats have in this age bracket.  She looked in and said we need need to get him out.  I used the day's experience to think that I could drag him out to get examined... no He gave me a little nip and then sunk his teeth full force into my hand.  Puncture wounds on both sides of my left hand.


The vet concluded that he needed to be seen under sedation.  After a half hour in the waiting room she came out and said that no he had no urinary tract infection put she thought that it would be important to check through the blood work.  He had a high fever and was dehydrated.  She administered a shot with a long term antibiotic dose (should last almost 2 weeks). This is pretty good since he is not a good medicine taker.

This morning he was perky and wanted out. The vet said that ideally he should be quarantined for 10 days.. although she said that she knew that was not reasonable for a cat like this. 

So things are looking better for Mr. Nigel. I wish I could say the same for my hand.  Its starting to get red and siff.  I will keep an eye on it and get some antibiotics if needed.

The other vet came out and offered my some Iodine for the hand wash and suggested I wash the dishes with dawn hot water and soap.

Rain is in the forecast for this afternoon. Nigel will be less likely to want to get out and waterdog it.